The Star’s editorial board has jumped the gun on its gleeful claim (7-16, Editorial, “The insurance market has spoken: Don’t arm teachers”). One company does not a market make.

There may very well be several other insurance companies salivating at the news that one of their competitors is taking itself out of the market. One company’s risk is another company’s opportunity.

Time will tell what the market says about allowing schools to have armed defenders on hand. Perhaps in a few months the editor should send a reporter out to see what the overall insurance market response really is.

John Gillis

Overland ParkFix U.S. moral fabric

The moral fabric of our nation is dissolving. We see it in the violence in cities, the corruption of banks, corporations and Wall Street, and in the lives of politicians and citizens.

Our nation has lost its moral compass. It’s no accident that many in government are attacking the Second Amendment.

To a free people, the right to bear arms is the last line of defense against tyranny. To those whose faith is in government but not our Constitution, it’s their last obstacle to satisfy an urge for power and control over others.

Note the efforts of our government to declare U.S. citizens untrustworthy to have weapons while the attorney general has defended the illegal and unexplained Operation Fast and Furious.

American exceptionalism is grounded in a Judeo-Christian foundation that we should control our individual behavior and passions. By doing this, the founders were able to transform individual self-government into a moral and virtuous self-governed nation, known for 200 years as the light of the world.

That nation is fading into history, and unless the tide of this cultural war reverses, government of the people and by the people will have vanished from the Earth.

Charley Morasch

LeawoodStar’s mixed message

So, on July 14, The Star quotes Mayor Sly James and Police Chief Darryl Forté urging restraint after the not-guilty verdict for George Zimmerman. On the July 16 front page is Jeneé Osterheldt’s column headlined, “I’m afraid of the next George Zimmerman.”

Perhaps Congress is working too hard and needs some time off for rest and relaxation. I have a plan to give our representatives a little more free time.

When a bill is introduced, before any research is done, send it to the National Rifle Association. If the NRA approves the measure, it can be returned, and Congress can do the necessary work.

On the other hand, if the NRA says no to the bill, then scrap it. There is no sense wasting any further time on the bill.

Taking it first to where the decision is made will save Congress time, which will allow lawmakers to have more rest and relaxation.

William Betteridge

IndependenceFounders’ prescience

The idea that the Second Amendment does not include language explicitly referencing individuals’ use of arms in their self-defense is rather fantastic, considering that at the time the Bill of Rights was written, the carrying of arms for self-defense was common.

Moreover, the founders had just formed a nation based upon the pre-eminence of individual liberty, which had been gained because firearms were commonly available for both individual and collective defense against their own and other governments.

Regardless of the First Amendment’s importance, the British did not march on Concord to confiscate printing presses and ink and the colonists did not produce a new nation because of freedom of speech.

The cannon in the room of Second Amendment discussion is that the only thing the founders could not contemplate were future citizens unilaterally diminishing their own liberty by relinquishing their inalienable right to self-defense.

Dennis Batliner

Overland ParkGun facts, please

I would like to know how many people are killed or injured in the Kansas City area each month by suicide (including attempted), by drive-by shootings, by domestic abuse, by accidents, by murder, etc.

I would also like to know the history of the guns used, inherited, stolen, purchased, etc. Also, of course, what kinds of guns are involved in the shootings.

Of interest, too, is the financial cost of medical care for all those victims. Who pays for that?

The facts, please.

Todi Hughes

Kansas CityNoise pollution

If you happen to live on a busy street, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Some people drive with their windows down and their car radios turned up way too loud.

Why do they feel the need to share their bad taste in music with the rest of the neighborhood?

With their bass turned up, all we hear is something like someone beating on a 55-gallon drum.

If you have cheap car speakers, your music sounds like something amplified out of a cigar box. Roll up your windows, get a hearing aid or wear earphones.

Noise pollution is a real problem. People responsible should be ticketed, fined and made to listen to Lawrence Welk music for a week as punishment.

Thomas E. Dodson

Kansas CityObama’s vision

From all that I gather, President Barack Obama would like the United States and all the other countries of the world to meld into one government that doesn’t have to abide by our restrictive Constitution. That way, we could start over in the manner he would like.

The great nations of the world last about 200 years. We are somewhat over our time allotment, ya think?

Our Founding Fathers are probably rolling over in their graves.

Final score: Obama: 1, America: 0.

Communism failed in Russia. Perhaps we will have better luck.

Robert Patterson

Lee’s SummitSacrificing rights

Let’s say we rewrite the Second Amendment to say anything you want. Ban guns, ban box knives, ban kitchen pots, even ban pop tarts that are made to resemble guns. What happens now?

You have set a precedent to start the ball rolling downhill.

What’s to stop those in power from changing the First Amendment?

You have opened the door for those in power or who have influence to change things so no one can speak against them or voice a difference of opinion.

Some will laugh with a conceited air that that can never happen.

Are you willing to put your trust in politicians? Politicians can be and are bought, as is evident when some change their minds once they get elected regardless of what their constituents wanted.

The Constitution and its process is the only protection we common folks have left.

People will always argue about it, but I am not ready to put my trust into career politicians who cater to the National Rifle Association, Bloomberg, the communications giants or anyone else.